THE WEATHER STATION REVEALS NEW SINGLE/VIDEO, “TO TALK ABOUT,” OFF HOW IS IT THAT I SHOULD LOOK AT THE STARS

COMPANION ALBUM TO JUNO AWARD NOMINATED LP, IGNORANCE, OUT THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 4TH ON NEXT DOOR RECORDS

WATCH / SHARE “TO TALK ABOUT” HERE
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“[How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars] is a record that makes you hold your breath. A record you want to draw close. It is quite simply stunning.” - Uncut, 10/10

“How do you follow up the most celebrated record of your career so far? For the Weather Station's Tamara Lindeman, the answer has been in her back pocket this whole time. Lindeman delicately succeeds in fitting the world into her songs.” Exclaim!

Photo Credit: Danielle Rubi

The Weather Station will release her new album, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars, this Friday, March 4, via Next Door Records. The release comes on the heels of her JUNO Award nomination for 2021’s highly-acclaimed Ignorance, which was announced yesterday. At the height of this exciting news, she today reveals a new HIITISLATS single/video, “To Talk About”, a frank meditation on love. Its lyrics are beautifully plaintive, conceptualizing intimate moments of expression: “When there is too much midnight to ever express, to listen to his breath, and to lay again my head on his chest. I am lazy, I only want to talk about love.” Tamara Lindeman’s voice is cushioned by piano, later joined by Ryan Driver’s tenor. 

The video for “To Talk About” was directed by Lindeman who says, “I wanted the video to capture the feeling of surrender the song has; a feeling of surrendering to emotion at the expense of everything else, within a world that is not necessarily conducive to that softness.  I wanted the video to be overtly emotional and sensual, and so I turned to the stereotypical signifiers of these things; beaches, sunsets, the colour red, a sort of operatic performance of emotion.  I think the video is an evocation of the feeling of being in love; obsessed with someone or something regardless of your surroundings, where you are, what is happening.  Reaching towards softness and touch, even from within aloneness.”

WATCH / SHARE “TO TALK ABOUT” HERE
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How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars is intended to be heard as a companion piece to Ignorance. These are songs written at the same time that connect emotionally and deal with many of the same themes: disconnection and conflict, love, birds, and climate feelings.  It is an album of immense sensitivity, a recording of a band and a person daring to reach towards softness without apology.

How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars was recorded live off the floor at Toronto’s Canterbury Music Studios from March 10-12, 2020. With Jean Martin co-producing, Lindeman sang and played piano live while the band improvised their accompaniment; Christine Bougie on guitar and lap steel, Karen Ng on saxophone and clarinet, Ben Whiteley on upright bass, Ryan Driver on piano, flute, and vocals, and Tania Gill on wurlitzer, rhodes, and pianet. Recorded live in just three days, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars is achingly intimate; full of breath, silence, and detail.  

WATCH / SHARE "ENDLESS TIME" VIDEO

The Weather Station just finished up the first North American leg of their tour, selling out shows all over the country. Along the way, they made their late night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and taped a KEXP session, which was released yesterday. The Weather Station will present an intimate, solo performance of the entire new album tomorrow, Thursday, March 3rd at 9pm EST via a Bandcamp livestream. Tickets are $10 and are on sale now. 

WATCH THE WEATHER STATION PERFORM ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!

WATCH THE WEATHER STATION LIVE AT KEXP

THE WEATHER STATION TOUR DATES:
Sun. Mar. 13 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East (SOLO)
Tue. Mar. 15 - Brighton, UK @ Komedia + 
Wed. Mar. 16 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla + 
Thu. Mar. 17 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla + 
Fri. Mar. 18 - Dublin, IE @ Workmans Club + 
Sat. Mar. 19 - Belfast, UK @ Black Box + 
Mon. Mar. 21 - Glasgow, UK @ Mono + 
Tue. Mar. 22 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club + 
Wed. Mar. 23 - London, UK @ Scala +
Fri. Mar. 25 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique ~
Sat. Mar. 26 - Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire ~
Sun. Mar. 27 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord ~
Mon. Mar. 28 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club ~
Wed. Mar. 30 - Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen ~
Thu. Mar. 31 - Oslo, NO @ Bla ~
Fri. Apr. 1 - Stockholm, SE @ Debaser / Bar Brooklyn ~
Sat. Apr. 2 - Gothenburg, SE @ Oceanen ~
Mon. Apr. 4 - Hamburg, DE @ Nochtwache ~
Tue. Apr. 5 - Cologne, DE @ Blue Shell ~
Wed. Apr. 6 - Munich, DE @ Milla ~
Thu. Apr. 7 - Zurich, CH @ Bogen F  ~
Sun. Apr. 24 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
Mon. Apr. 25 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
Tue. Apr. 26 - New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Thu. Apr. 28 - Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom *
Tue. May 31 - Lisbon, PT @ Aula Magna (SOLO)
Wed. Jun. 1 - Braga, PT @ Theatro Circo (SOLO)
Thu. Jun. 2 - Porto, PT @ Mou.Co (SOLO)
Sat. Jun. 4 - Setubal, PT @ Casa da Cultura (SOLO)
Sun. Jun. 5 - Faro, PT @ Teatro das Figuras (SOLO)
Tue. Jun. 7 - Milan, IT @ Santeria (SOLO)
Wed. Jun. 8 - Florence, IT @ Sala Vanni (SOLO)
Thu. Jun. 9 - Padua, IT @ Anfiteatro Del Venda (SOLO)
Sat. Jun. 11 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera 
Thu. Jun. 16 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo 
Sun. June. 19 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
Mon. Jun. 20 - Austin, TX @ 3TEN

*= w/ Sam Amidon
+= Ami Dang
~= Aoife Nessa Frances

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HOW IS IT THAT I SHOULD LOOK AT THE STARS TRACKLIST:
1. Marsh
2. Endless Time
3. Taught
4. Ignorance
5. To Talk About
6. Stars
7. Song
8. Sway
9. Sleight of Hand
10. Loving You

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PUP SHARES NEW SINGLE “MATILDA” & ANNOUNCES MORE TOUR DATES

Photo Credit: Vanessa Heins // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Toronto punk heroes PUP — comprised of Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula, and Steve Sladkowski — recently announced their incredible, ambitious and aptly titled fourth album, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, out April 1 via Little Dipper. Following the previously released “Waiting” and “Robot Writes A Love Song”, PUP shares another new track today. The plaintive and anthemic “Matilda” is a classic galloping PUP shout-along recrimination-fest. And Matilda is, of course, Stefan’s favorite but deeply shitty guitar. 

“Matilda is the name of my favourite guitar. She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour,” says Backbock. “I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of ‘nicest things anyone’s ever done for me’. I played Matilda nonstop for 7 years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit. As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a ‘good’ guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year. I wrote this song based on this intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner. I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty. For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”

WATCH / SHARE “MATILDA” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MATILDA” HERE

PUP will unravel right before your very eyes on tour starting next month, and today they announce another slew of tour dates. See below to find a show, including festivals such as Coachella and Shaky Knees, below. Tickets are on-sale now HERE.

LISTEN AND SHARE “WAITING” HERE

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND was recorded and mixed over the course of five weeks in the summer of 2021, in GRAMMY Award-winning producer Peter Katis’ bat-filled mansion in Connecticut. Full of typically furious, ridiculous and anthemic songs, the recording process allowed PUP to push themselves further than ever before. With more time in the studio, they were able to craft their songs sonically in a way they were unable to in the past, and allowed themselves to incorporate new instruments like piano, synths, horns, and more for the first time. Though made in madness-inducing isolation (aside from Peter and the bats, of course), PUP were remotely joined on the album by Sarah from Illuminati Hotties, Kathryn from NOBRO, Mel from Casper Skulls, and Erik from Remo Drive. The result is not just the next PUP record, but the *most* PUP record.

WATCH / SHARE “ROBOT WRITES A LOVE SONG” HERE
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Album Artwork Credit: Jordan Speer // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

THE UNRAVELLING OF PUPTHEBAND TRACKLIST
01 Four Chords 
02 Totally Fine
03 Robot Writes A Love Song
04 Matilda
05 Relentless
06 Four Chords Pt. II: Five Chords
07 Waiting
08 Habits
09 Cutting Off The Corners
10 Grim Reaping
11 Four Chords Pt. III: Diminishing Returns
12 PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHE BAND DIGITAL PRE-ORDER

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND PHYSICAL PRE-ORDER
+ PUPTHEBAND INC. MERCH

MORE ON THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND:

PUP released Morbid Stuff in 2019 to critical acclaim, earning countless year-end nods from the likes of Pitchfork and NPR, their late-night debut on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the JUNO Award for Alternative Album of The Year, the short list for the Polaris Music Prize, and sold-out shows across the globe. Two years later, they spent a few weeks in the Summer of 2021 in a mansion in Connecticut with Peter Katis (Interpol, Kurt Vile, The National) to record and mix their new record, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND.

The band—Babcock, bassist Nestor Chumak, drummer Zack Mykula, and guitarist Steve Sladkowski—more or less never left. When the band got comfortable in its strange new home, the (figurative) walls came down. “As the weeks passed, we seemed less and less rational, objective, and sane,” Babcock says. “You can hear the band start to fall off the cliff, and because of that, I think this record is our truest and most genuine to date. There is nothing more PUP than a slow and inevitable descent into self-destruction.” 

Every PUP record arrives with an implied “contents under pressure” warning; the tension between the band’s instinct for the melodic and its gift for chaos propels the songs forward while making them also seem close to flying apart in a horrifying spray of tears and gore. THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND is the sound of a band that is not just comfortable with but in command of that chaos. “There’s only so many times you can write a song about how much you hate yourself before you write a song about how fucking good you are at hating yourself,” Babcock says. ““I wanted to write about the horrible state of the world, but through a very specific and personal lens. It’s a lot of me trying to articulate my own coping with existential dread, hopelessness, and what I’ve called ‘Grim Reaping’—which is to me, the idea that we are all reaping what we sow, and right now we’re sowing some pretty fucked up shit.”

WATCH / SHARE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND ALBUM TRAILER

THE UNRAVELING is not a departure from what got PUP here, really; for all the new breadth, this is still very much the fourth album by the band that has spun songs about The Bad Decisions Lifestyle into scrappy art. The hooks are as bright and barbed as always; the poison threaded through every song is no less potent. But a fourth album should be different from the first, or even the third, and THE UNRAVELING is. “I don’t know that we set out to do new stuff,” Mykula says, of a record on which the band does a great deal of new stuff. “It’s just a band trying to sound as much like themselves as possible. Every record you make, you get closer to that.” 

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND is that next step—not towards perfection, or even towards some more perfect version of writing songs about fucking up, but just in the direction of its choice. It’s a product of this endless awful broader moment, but also very much a step forward into that uncertainty. “The whole album process really brought us closer together, even as things unraveled,” Babcock says. “It’s hands down my favourite PUP record, and I don’t think it could’ve been made under any other circumstances.” 

TOUR DATES // ON SALE NOW
03/26/22 - Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre Music Theatre !
03/27/22 - Hamilton, ON @ Bridgeworks ! [SOLD OUT]
03/28/22 - Kingston, ON @ The Ale House !
03/29/22 - Peterborough, ON @ The Venue !
04/01/22 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre *^
04/02/22 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall *^
04/03/22 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre *^
04/05/22 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore *^
04/08/22 - Victoria, BC @ Capital Ballroom ^
04/09/22 - Victoria, BC @ Capital Ballroom ^ [SOLD OUT]
04/10/22 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo ^ 
04/11/22 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom +^ 
04/13/22 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades +^
04/15/22 - Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
04/16/22 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren +^ 
04/17/22 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah + [SOLD OUT]
04/18/22 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah ^ [SOLD OUT]
04/20/22 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield +^
04/21/22 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda #^
04/22/22 - Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
04/24/22 - Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre +^ 
04/25/22 - Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater +^ 
04/27/22 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater +^ 
04/28/22 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues +^ 
04/29/22 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater +^ 
05/01/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Music Festival
05/03/22 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel +^ 
05/04/22 - Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz +^ 
05/05/22 - Richmond, VA @ The National +^ 
05/06/22 - Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall +^ 
05/07/22 - Washington, DC @ The Fillmore Silver Spring +^ 
05/09/22 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom +^ 
05/10/22 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues +^ 
05/11/22 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5 +^ 
05/13/22 - Montreal, QC @ MTelus +^ 
05/14/22 - Toronto, ON @ History +^  [SOLD OUT]
05/15/22 - Toronto, ON @ History +^ 
06/03/22 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues $ 
06/04/22 - Royal Oak, MI @ The Royal Oak $
06/05/22 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s $
06/06/22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom $ 
06/08/22 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Annex $
06/09/22 - Lawrence, KS @ The Granada $
06/10/22 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant $
06/11/22 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl $
06/13/22 - Charleston, SC @ Charleston Music Hall $ 
06/14/22 - Columbia, SC @ The Senate $
06/15/22 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa $
06/17/22 - Holyoke, MA @ Race Street Block Party $
06/18/22 - Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall $
07/08/22 - Cheltenham, UK @ 2000trees Festival
07/23/22 - Byron Bay, Australia @ Splendour in the Grass
08/24/22 - 8/27/22 - Málaga, Spain @ Canela Party Festival
10/12/22 - Leeds, UK @ Leeds Beckett Students Union 
10/13/22 - Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
10/14/22 - London, UK @ The Roundhouse 
10/16/22 - Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Galvanizers 
10/17/22 - Dublin, IE @ Academy 2
10/19/22 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
10/20/22 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
10/21/22 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
10/23/22 - Paris, FR @ Backstage 
10/24/22 - Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique 
10/25/22 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg 
10/26/22 - Köln, DE @ Bürgerhaus Stollwerck 
10/28/22 - Berlin, DE @ So36 
10/29/22 - Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy
10/30/22 - Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe
11/01/22 - Milan, IT @ Bloom 
11/02/22 - Munich, DE @ Strom
11/03/22 - Hamburg, DE @ Gruenspan
11/05/22 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset

! with support from Casper Skulls
* with support from Cloud Nothings
^ with support from Pinkshift
+ with support from Sheer Mag
# with support from Skegss
$ with support from Oceanator

PUP ONLINE
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SCOTT HARDWARE UNVEILS MUSIC VIDEO FOR “UNDERDOG”, NEW LP OUT THIS WEEK

WATCH / SHARE “UNDERDOG” HERE
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SCOTT HARDWARE’S BALLAD OF A TRYHARD, OUT MARCH 4, 2022
VIA TELEPHONE EXPLOSION

PRE-SAVE BALLAD OF A TRYHARD HERE

Photo Credit : Monica Maria Moraru  // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

At the end of this week, Scott Hardware (the moniker of Toronto-based musician and composer Scott Harwood) will release his third album, Ballad Of A Tryhard via Telephone Explosion. Listed as one of Exclaim!’s “most anticipated albums of 2022,” today Hardware is sharing the video for LP’s closing track, “Underdog”.

The video sees Scott Hardware and his group as the house band for a soft-lit slow dance. Lovers pull each other close, secrets are whispered into ears to knowing laughter while our protagonist dreams of the intimacy and belonging that comes easily to the lovestruck couples dancing to the music. Flipping between Hardware's dancing alone in the empty ballroom and the sexy sway of the slow dance - a hungry, lovelorn feeling permeates. Director Shelby Fenlon’s vision brings us a languid, sexy version of that ‘less-than’-feeling, where sparkling fantasy might just be enough to get you through it."

WATCH / SHARE “UNDERDOG” HERE
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MORE ABOUT BALLAD OF A TRYHARD
How do you self-stabilize amidst ongoing crisis? Or, more crucially, what does it mean to question how much control we have over our collective well-being? On Ballad of a Tryhard, the third album by Scott Hardware, he attempts a response by honouring the splendor of “living between emotions.” It’s an album where a rich inner monologue, and the undefined space between reflection and realization can offer an invaluable reprieve. 

Over luminous keys and sky-sweeping melodies, Harwood reverse engineers his capabilities as a composer skilled in the art of complexity to deliver his boldest album to date — unselfconsciously ambitious Y2K rock; a reimagination of experimental adult contemporary that tweaks the limits of soft rock with curiosity and appreciation. 

For the first single, “Summer” (which features members of Phedre, Lee Paradise, WHIMM, Vallens, Blunt Chunks, and Jaunt), Harwood tries his hand at a bouncy, heartstring ballad built for the open road. "I was born in September, and autumn has always been my favourite season,” says Harwood. “Fall people love to look back and to dwell in the bittersweetness of memory. This song marks a deep dive into my changing thoughts about nostalgia, seeing it change from cozy romanticism to toxic waste."

LISTEN AND SHARE “SUMMER”
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On Ballad of a Tryhard, Hardware conducts a painstaking character evaluation to better understand the world by looking inward. Suspended and exalting, the album bursts with cinematic flourishes that ring with a courageous form of earnestness. Because once you examine the internal toll of people-pleasing, and question if charisma has been overvalued, is there space to imagine a new reality that seeks to uplift rather than wallow — observing sparse moments of beauty and light amidst a world in constant mourning? 

Crafted in Spain and co-produced with Matt Smith (Prince Nifty, Lido Pimienta), Ballad of a Tryhard is a snapshot of weeks spent in Elche, a sleepy Mediterranean city on the southeast coast, wandering through emptied-out streets, becoming acquainted with the interiors of a historic apartment block, and living for the first time with a familiar love. With unlimited time on his hands, Harwood would write slowly, playing piano until dawn. The result is an album with ornate and bucolic orchestral arrangements that nod to a background in techno and house with a tangled web of synths and strings. 

LISTEN / SHARE “WATERSNAKE” HERE
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Prior to his solo work as Scott Hardware, Harwood played with indie rock stalwart Toronto groups like Ostrich Tuning and released ambient pop as Ken Park. A move to Berlin influenced his 2016 debut, Mutate Repeat Infinity, which centered the dancefloor as a site of queer resilience. 2020’s Engel pulled direct inspiration from Wim Wender’s 1987 haunting masterpiece Wings of Desire. In 2021 Harwood was accepted into the Slaight Family Music Lab.

PRE-SAVE BALLAD OF A TRYHARD HERE

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BALLAD OF A TRYHARD 
01 Summer
02 Metaterranean
03 Another Day Ending
04 Is Something Wrong Tonight
05 Love Through The Trees
06 Watersnake
07 Dentera
08 Sing Like That
09 Bootleg
10 Underdog

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